By Erika Lunceford and Soumyasree Vinod
The Women in Big Data Bay Area chapter had a very successful 2022. Erika Lunceford and Soumyasree Vinod took over as chapter leaders in November of 2021 and were quick to put together a core committee to drive events and create a high level sketch for what to achieve the remainder of the year. One of their goals was to use the chapter to help other women on the committee develop their skills.
With the help of our amazing core members and WiBD NA leadership team and global exec committee’s support, we were able to organize multiple events and a very successful Data Science Olympian program.
Our ambassadors/core members are: Deborah Sgro, Anat Zohar, Dio-Ann Valmores, Emiko Sano, Rupa Gangatirkar, Srabasti Banerjee, and Angela Yu who works closely with the co-directors Erika Lunceford and Soumyasree Vinod.
Events by Women in Big Data Bay Area chapter 2022
Event |
Date |
Description |
Plans & Leadership Opportunities for WiBD Bay Area Chapter Online Event |
November 17, 2021 |
Soumya and Erika introduced their plans to provide a platform and support for the chapter. We recruited several women to join the core team and design their own events. |
Careers in Data and Technology Online panel discussion |
March 23, 2022 |
Emiko brought together an amazing group of women to encourage others to go into the tech industry. The panel was diverse, young and enthusiastic and were asked to participate with the Brazil Chapter. Participants: Justice DelCore, Eunice Pereira, Jamila Smith-Dell, Mary Karroqe, Viviana Hernandez |
Owning your career in the future of work Hybrid Session Hosted by: PeerNova |
May 17, 2022 |
It was very nice to have some people at this session. The session itself is quite interactive and reflective of the participants, so we do not have a recording. Neil Metzler is able to engage with folks and help them think about where they are and where they want to be. |
Career Development: Bringing Value Online Session |
June 20, 2022 |
Deb brought her expertise as a career coach from practical industry experience and made us think about what we were bringing to the table at our companies so that we can advocate for ourselves. How are you a critical part of the company? How do you show up everyday? She always has a balanced way of looking at things and it is important as we enter harder times that we articulate the value that we provide to our position and industry. |
Data Science Olympians
Mentoring and Online Celebration |
Four-month program starting Spring 2022 – September 2022 |
One of the many highlights of Bay Area Chapter 2022 year was the Data Science Olympians mentoring program. The program was led by Rupa and Srabasti under Soumya’s sponsorship. Deb provided the guidance and support required to host it on the Qooper mentoring platform. This track was specifically designed to advance technology skills in Data Analysis, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, as well as technical leadership, through data science contest participation. · Twenty-two people formed five teams, and participated in various data science competitions. · At a closing ceremony in October, the final projects were showcased, numerous participants spoke about the growth opportunity this program provided, to engage with complex data sets; produce analysis for real-world problems for the first time; experience leading a technical team through unexpected events while keeping the focus on successful delivery of their project. The program concluded with a closing ceremony/celebration event on October 13th which was moderated by Suja Viswesan, senior VP at Warner media. DSO closing ceremony recording. Registration for the new winter 2023 cohort starts December 2022. |
Demystifying Mentoring and Putting it to Practice
Online Session Co-promoted by Five9 |
October 26, 2022 |
Anat took the lead on this and designed an awesome session. Deb provided the WiBD Mentoring Platform to try out speed mentoring. Srabasti helped recruit and Emiko took it home by facilitating the event. The event started with 3 great panelists and ended with speed mentoring through Zoom. Panelists: |
Getting Here From There |
March – June 2022
September – November 2022 |
Deb and Erika led two cohorts in 2022. The Getting Here From There mentoring program is focused on career strategy with the participants walking away with an action plan. The first cohort of 9 was focused on entry level and return to work participants and helping them get started in their new careers. The second cohort of 8 was for participants with 10+ years of technology experience, who already manage technology teams/projects, and have advancement goals set on technical management positions (e.g. managing multiple teams, managing managers, and beyond). The Bay area will offer this program again with a continued focus for women with 10+ years of technology experience. There are many other mentoring programs available for a variety of objectives and needs. http://www.womeninbigdata.org/mentoring/ An offshoot of this program came from one of the Fall participants. There will be a technology circle offered in Europe and one in the Americas that leverage the “comfy chair” that is a core activity of the Getting Here From There. |
We plan to kick off 2023 early January and will start with a survey to gauge interest from our ambassadors : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdH4l-3fg4N4kLwoGf9s3JS5Lrs3hq6rSzIc8DNr52TtS9LyQ/viewform. We are confident we will have a good lineup for virtual and in-person events for the upcoming year.
Thank you for your support!
Soumyasree Vinod and Erika Lunceford
Co-Directors WiBD Bay Area Chapter
December 2022
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